The Braided Twine Part 1: Tardis Tots
by KarenRiceHossitt
Summary: Snippets of the life of the TARDIS team (7th Doctor, Ace, Sophie, and Sylvester) : This is a sequel to the author's story "Marionette Strings" and the beginning of a trilogy that spans the years between that story and the upcoming sequel , "Scissors of Fate". As always these characters do not belong to me and the following story is for entertainment purposes only. Please enjoy. The


Snippets of the life of the TARDIS team (7th Doctor, Ace, Sophie, and Sylvester) : This is a sequel to the author's story "Marionette Strings" and the beginning of a trilogy that spans the years between that story and the upcoming sequel , "Scissors of Fate". As always these characters do not belong to me and the following story is for entertainment purposes only. Please enjoy. The author also begs forgiveness for the long absence: Nursing school, moving between US states and starting a new life takes a lot of time.

Story #1: TARDIS tots:

The silence that permeated the interior of the old time-ship was broken only by the soft hum of engines as she flew happily through the vortex.

If the TARDIS was in fact sentient, she would be content that her passengers were nestled snugly in bed. Even her thief was asleep with his bond-mate and was finally leaving the TARDIS's innards alone.

His so called improvements were often devastating to her wiring and she was glad she would not have to spend the better part of tomorrow fixing what he did.

The TARDIS did a quick systems check and found that she was running at optimum capacity. That done, she decided to double check that her passengers were well.

Her thief was still in the room that he shared with the female human called Ace. While she might not understand the need for this type of companionship, it did seem to keep the thief happy.

On the other hand, their bonding had given the TARDIS her favorite little playthings. The two small humanoids, who were created and born in her expansive interior, were … 'adorable', yes that was the word. If the TARDIS dedicated some of her thought processes to it, she could remember that their designations were Sophie for the tiny girl and Sylvester for the little boy. Most often, however, they were called The Twins, whatever that meant.

All the time-ship knew was that these squishy, precious, vocal things were her pride and joy. On quiet nights such as this, she enjoyed monitoring the twins in their cribs, automatically rocking them if they startled awake.

But what were they up to now? The boy was precariously hanging from the top of his crib rails, his counterpart already on the floor of the nursery watching his progress.

Something akin to the human emotion of panic snaked through the TARDIS's circuits as she remembered that a fall was not conducive to good health. In fact the last time her thief regenerated it had been because he had fallen and hit his cranium on her main console. While she did not know if the twins could regenerate, they were after all half human, she quite liked them as they were.

With a quick but gentle adjustment, the TARDIS lowered the boy's crib into the floor until he was safely giggling beside his sister.

Before the ship could feel any relief, however, both of the toddlers were up and making their way out of the rapidly opening nursery door. Houdini would have been proud of how fast they escaped.

Exactly ten seconds of the ships time were spend wondering if she should attempt to alert the twins' parental units of a possible problem. This conundrum was soon forgotten tough as a tickling sensation could be felt on the top of her control consol.

The tricky little beings were playing something like the human game of 'King of the Castle' on the materialization leavers!

Understandably the TARDIS was distracted as she was forced to materialize under the world-wide ocean of Herizon Four. The local wildlife did not seem to be amused. Just as the aquatic version of a giant lion spread its jaws to eat her, the TARDIS decided it would be a good idea to run back into the time vortex. Not that the creature would have hurt her, it's just that she preferred not to be covered with ichthyic spit.

Now where did those two troublemakers get to? Ah there they were, floating around in the zero room. Wait that may be dangerous too, the TARDIS decided now would be an optimal time to awaken the adults.

A moment of consideration, and there, the lights in the thief's room were set to an oscillating pattern, turning off and on. The time-ship did not want to scare the adults unnecessarily, after all the twins were only… wait, now where did they go!

There they were, toddling clumsily down the corridor to the library. Since there wasn't much danger they could get into in there the ship decided to see if the adults were awake. Ah, no not yet.

Now that was strange, usually both of them were incredibly aware of their surroundings. Why weren't they waking up?

Oh, yeah, there was some mention of a private celebration of something called an anniversary earlier that day. She was sure that the substance in the now empty bottle beside the couple's bed had something to do with their inattention.

Perhaps something more drastic would wake them. A second later the door to their room begins to slam open and closed. There that should do it.

Now, to check on the library. Hold on Sophie and Sylvester were not there!

Another tickling sensation alerted the TARDIS to their location. They were just entering the atrium to the swimming pool. Uh oh. Straining her circuits against a full blown panic attack, the ship decided it was time to call out the big guns.

The Doctor shot up in bed, waking Ace from her deep slumber.

"What's wrong Professor?" she said rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Shhh, wait" said the Doctor. A second later the sound of the ominous cloister bell sent the couple into a frenzy as they searched for their clothes.

"Get the twins, Ace, and meet me in the console room." He commanded as he dashed out of the slamming door.

"Right." Came her muffled reply.

The TARDIS made the cloister bell ring faster as the two children wandered closer and closer to the enticing blue water.

Their giggles resonated off the tiled walls of the natatorium as they explored the room. Sparks erupted from the lighting units around the pool as the TARDIS metaphorically screamed in warning. Unfortunately this only entertained the toddlers more and their excited squeals were drowned out by the panicking cloister bell.

"DOCTOR!" shouted Ace as she burst into the console room.

The Time Lord looked up from the scanner to take in the pale frightened face of his mate. He motioned for her and she rushed into his arms.

"They're gone! The twins are gone, where can they be?" cried Ace into his shoulder.

"I can't seem to get many answers from the TARDIS, her circuits are going haywire. It's as if she is an emotional wreck."

"Join the club, you sack of bolts!" yelled Ace at the consol "Where are my babies!"

"Ace, I'm sure that taking out or anger on the old girl isn't going to help matters."

"Oh yeah, what's that then, Doctor." She said as she pointed to a new line of illuminated arrows on the floor. After a quick look at each other, the adults dashed down the corridor.

Just when the TARDIS began to think everything would soon be sorted; her two favorites waddled straight into the deep end of the pool.

Why, oh why hadn't she thought of this eventuality and turned the pool into a skating ring? Oh, right, because the fragile little things would have frozen to death.

The Doctor and Ace crashed into the pool area looking for any sign of the twins. Luckily the TARDIS had added more arrows on the floor pointing at the water. Without a seconds hesitation both adults dove clothes and all into the water.

Only three tense moments later four heads broke the surface of the pool gasping for breath. With a metaphorical sigh of relief the TARDIS quieted her alarms and returned the lighting to normal.

"That does it. I'm never going to drink again" said Ace as she stepped up the shallow end stairs while juggling a crying Sophie on her hip.

"Ace, are you sure?" asked her mate as he followed her while comforting his son on his shoulder.

"Doctor, if I hadn't insisted on celebrating with a bottle last night we would have heard the TARDIS's warnings sooner." She held her daughter closer to her as the little girl's sobs turned to a fit of hiccups. "Do you think they will be alright?"

"I'm sure they will, they've just had a bit of a scare, that's all" he reassured her.

The couple headed quietly back to the nursery and put the wayward children back to bed. As they closed the door on the now sleeping toddlers the adults finally let out a relieved sigh.

"Well, I do believe it's time we started swimming lessons, if Sophie and Sylvester are that keen on being in the water, then by Rassilon we should make sure they can do it safely" said the Doctor with a determined expression. He turned back towards his room to complete the sleep cycle that was so rudely interrupted, when he noticed that Ace was not following.

"Ace?"

"I'll be right there, Professor. I just need a moment, there's someone I need to apologize to."

With a smile and a quick tap to the end of his bond-mate's nose, the Doctor left her to her thoughts. When she was sure he was out of hearing range, she turned to the corridor wall.

"Hiya, old girl," she said as she stroked the wall, "I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier. I was just panicked. I can't imagine losing them, but you know that don't you? Thank you for watching after them, look, I know there isn't much I can do, but if there is any way I can repay you, you'll let me know won't you?"

In response there was a vibration beneath Ace's hand, when she removed it she saw an elegant scrawl pattern slowly forming words.

_Keep HIM out of my wiring systems, please. _

With an amused snort Ace turned to follow her mate. "I'll do my best to keep him distracted, just keep a close eye on those two, ok, I know I can trust you."

The human couldn't help but smile as the TARDIS purred her agreement.


End file.
